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Friday, June 29, 2012

Freeform Friday Week 5

Apparently my name is not so unique after all. I woke up this morning, went through my usual routine of saying a prayer, making some coffee, reading some Scriptures, and firing up the old laptop, and after hearing the now grinding ‘you’ve got mail,’ proceeded to check my messages.

I opened up an e-mail titled ‘Dear Michael’ and in it the person asked how it was that I’m still able to post on the blog daily…are they letting me keep my laptop in prison?

I did a double take, reread the message a little slower, but no, my eyes were not deceiving me, she did ask if I somehow managed to talk the powers that be into keeping my laptop in prison.

After a quick Google search, yes, there is a politician in Romania named Michael Boldea, he is currently incarcerated, and no, I’m not him!

I thought I’d nip this in the bud before I started seeing the requisite websites pop up – who knows, perhaps the end times prophetess would come out of retirement for that one – denouncing me as a godless heathen who’s paying for his crimes by spending years and years in a Romania prison.

So, once again, to one and all, two Michael Boldeas, one of which is a preacher, the other a politician, one of which is incarcerated, the other, writing to you today from the comfort of his Spartan apartment.

While we’re on the topic, if only tangentially, make sure that if you’re going to start slinging mud, it’s warranted. Make certain! Double-check, and triple-check, that whatever you’re going to say about another human being – not necessarily someone in ministry but even your next door neighbor – is true.

No, the internet is not confirmation of your suspicions. If everything on the internet is to be believed, then the Antichrist will be the lovechild of space aliens and Bigfoot. Surf the web long enough, and you’ll realize there are some truly whacky people out there, and now all of them have a platform and a voice...isn’t technology grand?

We’re quick to jump the gun, because we’re itching to break the story. We want to be the first to pull back the curtain and expose whatever it is we feel we need to expose, and in our haste, we sometimes jump the shark and accuse innocent people of awful things, just because we didn’t take the time to investigate, and learn all that there was to be learned.

Dispelling foolish doctrines and silly myths, yes, by all means, dismantle them with a battering ram and a bulldozer. People however, are people, and the Bible does say we are to do to others as we would have done unto us.

I for one would prefer someone search out the truth before they pass judgment, and ask me personally if something is true or not. And so, I extend the same courtesy to everyone else, and thoroughly search out a matter before reaching a conclusion.

Richard Steele, an eighteenth century journalist once wrote that fire and swords are slow engines of destruction compared to the tongue of a gossip. Melodramatic as the preceding might sound, I tend to agree, seeing the damage and havoc gossip wreaks upon men.

And so, yes, I appreciate the sister who wrote me, and asked – if in a seemingly roundabout way – if I was the aforementioned incarcerated Mr. Boldea, or if another bore my name.

It has been an interesting morning…who knows what the afternoon will bring?

As always, thank you all for reading my musings and ruminations, thank you for your prayers, and to those of you whom the Lord has called to support it, thank you for supporting the orphanage we run.